


save tonight

by rories



Category: Timeless (TV 2016)
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, Multi, OT3, Pre-Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-24
Updated: 2017-11-24
Packaged: 2019-02-06 07:49:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,847
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12812958
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rories/pseuds/rories
Summary: While Garcia Flynn has managed to evade capture by Homeland Security, he and the Time Team are still in the crosshairs of Rittenhouse.  Rittenhouse will do anything to finish what they’ve started, even if it means kidnapping the daughter of a high ranking member.  When Lucy is taken, it’s up to Flynn and Wyatt to follow Rittenhouse across time to get her back.tomorrow comes to take me away / i wish that i, that i could stay





	save tonight

**Author's Note:**

> written for the [timeless big bang](https://timelessbigbang.tumblr.com/). thank you to the mods for being so flexible when i am the worst procrastinator on earth.
> 
> check out the video by [@lanceprestonsmoak](http://lanceprestonsmoak.tumblr.com/) on tumblr. it's like a mini trailer and makes this fic sound better than it actually is!!!!
> 
> me @ the beginning of the challenge: 10k in like two months, no problem!!  
> me @ check in day: oh god everyone has their lives together and has written so much i have nothing oh god  
> me like two weeks ago: why do i do this to myself   
> me last night: HOW DO I HAVE ALMOST 10K????
> 
> anyway, have this pile of hot garbage pre-ot3 time travel mess. i'm thinking there will be a part two when i can stand to look at it again because there is a lot to unpack with these three losers.

Lucy agrees to meet Flynn on a cold and sunny day, her hands tucked deep in her coat pockets and thoughts racing through her head. She’s been debating whether she should leave for ten minutes, moving up and down the stairs so often that her calves are starting to ache. She’s deep in thought when he sneaks up on her, walking up quickly behind her that she jumps at his low voice. 

“You’re alone?” he asks, casting a look around. 

“I said I would be,” she answers, almost offended at his lack of trust in her. 

“Do you have it?” he continues. He doesn’t mean to be rude, but he’s on edge as it is, out here in the open. 

Her hands are small when she holds out the thumb drive, a slight tremor in them. “It was in Ethan’s files,” she murmurs, hands tucked deep in her pockets again. “It's the name of the person who put the order out to kill your family, and the men who carried it out.” 

She stands in front of him, resolute and so strong and fierce that he has to take a moment to catch his breath. He clenches his jaw as she continues, conviction in her voice as she tells him “Go on one last trip, get your wife and your daughter back, and then surrender the Mothership, or destroy it I don't care. But this...it's over.” 

The small smile, almost a grimace, that Lucy flashes tugs at the base of his breastbone. He’s well aware of what he’s put her through, and while he doesn’t regret pulling her into this mess, he does regret how things have turned out. Flynn gives her a rueful smile before replying. “Once I get my family back, I never want to see that machine again.” 

She never takes her eyes from him, eyes tracking his every movement, which is why he makes his next few movements deliberately slowly. He moves back and brings a hand up before reaching with this other into his belt. “I almost forgot. This is for you. I won't be needing it anymore.” He tries to lighten his tone, smiles at her when he says it, but her face never changes. He hates the slight look of fear in her eyes as he brings the journal around to the front of him. He never wanted to put that look on her face and if he can do anything right after getting his family back, it’s fixing the way Lucy thinks of him. 

“You know, you never told me where you got it from,” she says and there’s the beginning of that smile. It brings a grin to his own face and he has to lick his lips before continuing, cocky now that he knows something she doesn’t. 

“You gave it to me,” he answers and the answering laugh he gets back is almost enough to make him forget about getting on the Mothership to complete his mission. 

“Uh, no, I didn’t.” She says it with such conviction and stubbornness that he has to look away for a moment. 

“Well, not yet.” Flynn pauses for a moment and looks her up and down. “Take it from me: you age surprisingly well.” 

Lucy looks shocked for a moment, stuttering out “What are you talking about?” but she never gets an answer. She’s lost his attention and she can see his eyes darting back and forth to spots over her shoulders. She looks around as well and sees multiple people with guns drawn, in tactical gear and hard expressions. 

Flynn looks at her accusingly, about to tear into her, convinced she’s betrayed him, but stops at the look of confusion on her face. She has no idea what’s about to happen, starts shaking her head when she finally realizes what he’s thinking. 

He barely has time to look around and the men are getting closer and closer. He only has a moment to spare before they are on them and it’s not enough time to come up with a plan. The only escape route is down the steps between the buildings and he’s not entirely sure he has enough time to get there or where he’d go after.

It’s Lucy that helps him focus. She grabs his arm quickly, her tiny hand on his bicep and it’s warm through her glove and his coat, burning him deep. “Go!” she says, pushing hard against him to point him through the gap in the building. “GO!”

He starts toward the gap but stops suddenly and turns. “Lucy-” he starts, but she just pushes him again. “Go! I’ll meet you here,” she says, pressing a paper into his hand. “Hurry!” she hisses and he finally turns and sprints, narrowly missing the tactical team surrounding Lucy behind him. 

When he turns to look at her from the shadows of the buildings, all he can see is a smirk on her face as Agent Christopher makes demands. That’s his girl. 

*****

Agent Christopher is understandably upset that Flynn has slipped away again, but she lets Lucy go only to meet up with her later on. By now they know that Flynn has escaped, but they have control of the Mothership again, having intercepted it before Flynn could return to it. Still, even with Flynn in the wind again, Agent Christopher feels a slight sense of accomplishment. Which is why, when Lucy and Wyatt meet up with her once more, the first thing she says is “Good news!” 

Lucy and Wyatt glance at each other as they slow to a stop in front of the agent. “We've made 42 Rittenhouse arrests across the globe just today,” she continues. “Brings our total to 150. A few are in government. A surprising number are corporate lawyers. You should be very proud,” Agent Christopher says, choosing not to mention that Flynn has escaped once again. She sounds smug and confident, but Lucy can hear the anger left over from their earlier encounter, from Flynn getting away, buried in her voice. 

Lucy was never the best at reading the room, so she is the one to bring him up. “And Flynn? I mean, in the end, he did do the right thing, too.” She tries to hide her feelings, but she can see Wyatt looking at her from the corner of her eye, so she knows it’s written all over her face. 

Agent Christopher just looks at her for a moment, eyes flicking across her face before glancing over at Wyatt. “When Garcia Flynn returns and is caught, he'll be tried in a private military court. Everything will be by the book. You have my word.” 

As angry as she’d been when she’d realized Lucy had helped Flynn escape, Agent Christopher does understand why. She’s not a callous woman, but she does want to do the right thing. So, she continues, even after Lucy gives her a disappointed look. “I'm not gonna apologize for doing my job, especially considering the lengths I had to go to to keep our bargain, but a deal is a deal.”

Lucy looks up in shock, a look mirrored on Wyatt’s own face. She wants to say something, but she lets Agent Christopher continue. “I've secured permission for you to take the Lifeboat out one more time. Get your mom and Henry Wallace together. Get your sister back.” Agent Christopher smiles, glad to be able to do something to help these people she’s come to care about. And then she nods.

*****

The crew below is chattering indistinctly as Lucy and Wyatt watch, moving slowly to look down on them from the catwalk. He can tell she’s nervous, but before he can say anything to her, she starts. 

“So, what about you? You just go back to Pendleton and take up another mission?” she asks and he wonders if she actually sounds disappointed or if it’s just wishful thinking on his part. It takes a moment and then the question she asked finally penetrates his brain. He drops his head, knowing he’s about to hurt her. 

“That's how it works,” he replies, still nodding. Wyatt feels like he just needs to keep moving, needs to do something or he’ll turn to her and make promises he won’t be able to keep. He glances at her and catches her eye, tries to ignore the pain he knows is mirrored in his own gaze. 

“Yeah.”

They’re silent for a long moment and Wyatt has to look away, gaze falling to the people scurrying below. He can see her from the corner of his eye, can see her moving to face him. He knows she’s about to say something and he’s not sure if he’s ready for her to say her goodbyes. 

“Hey,” she murmurs and he moves his head toward her but he doesn’t look at her, isn’t sure he can. He doesn’t look up until she says “Thank you. Thank you for everything.” 

That wasn’t what he was expecting and it makes his heart sing. His eyes travel over her face, taking in every line and blush. He didn’t realize how much he’d come to care for her until the prospect of never seeing her again was laid in front of him. Wyatt can’t bear the thought that he’ll never see her again. 

“Eh, we'll stay in touch,” he says, a kind of hopefulness lacing his voice. “I'll call you if I ever need a bossy know-it-all.” 

Her quick response makes him proud, but he keeps his face neutral. “Yeah, I was thinking about texting you the next time that I need a reckless hothead.”

“Sounds good.”

They laugh together and it’s good, a burst of warmth blooming under his breastbone. He wants to stay in this moment forever, watching the smile bloom across her face. It’s big and bright and takes up half of her face, but she’s never been more beautiful to him than in this moment. He watches as she steps forward hesitantly and it’s like she was reading his mind, so he meets her in the middle and wraps her in a hug. 

She’s small against him, soft and warm, and he wants to hold her here forever. His hands wrap around her waist and seem to fit perfectly and he can’t help but breathe in the scent of her shampoo. His heart skips when he feels her move, thinks that she is moving away from him, but she just readjusts to rest her head on his shoulder. 

It’s that small move, that small moment of trust, that settles it for him. When she finally pulls away, he’s made up his mind, and he licks his lips in nervousness. 

“You know, maybe, uh, maybe Pendleton can wait a little bit. You think I'm gonna miss the chance to help you get your sister? See what all this fuss is about?” He says it with a joking grin, but he’s realizing pretty quickly that he’d do anything for the woman in front of him.   
Lucy smiles back at him, the only sign of relief she’s shown. 

“I'm really sorry that you won't be able to get Jessica back,” she says. It’s so perfectly Lucy that he has to swallow deep before responding. 

“Maybe we do need to stop trying to fix the past and start looking at the present. Maybe I do need to be open to the possibilities.” He’ll love Jessica forever and the guilt will always be there, but Lucy has taught him a lot in the short time they’ve known each other. So, he knows that it’s time to move on, to be a better person, and he thinks that maybe Lucy can help with that. 

“The possibilities of what?” she asks because of course she would and he can’t help but smile before responding. 

“I don't know,” he says. “I just know I'm not really ready to say good-bye yet.” 

They look at each other, trying to figure out what to say next or where to go from here. As easy as it was for Wyatt to completely change his plans to stay with her, he still doesn’t know quite what to do or say to take that next step. 

So perhaps it was a good thing that Connor Mason comes around the corner to announce “Ah, the Lifeboat will be charged and ready to go in three hours, my friends.” He doesn’t notice Lucy and Wyatt’s sighs of relief as he continues along the catwalk and out of sight.

Lucy laughs as he leaves before turning back to Wyatt. The moment is over now and as much as she doesn’t want to, she needs to do one thing before getting her sister back. “Will you tell Rufus I'll be back in an hour? There's just one thing I have to do first.”

Wyatt tries not to shudder when her hand lands on his arm as she passes by and he watches her leave with what he knows is a look of longing. It’s a very good thing that she doesn’t turn to look at him as she goes because he knows he probably looks like a sad puppy. He turns to look at the Lifeboat that they’re charging up and tries to ignore the bad feeling he feels growing in the pit of his stomach. 

*****

The house is warm and inviting when Lucy walks in and she can see her mother lost in thought. She hates what she’s about to do, what will happen to her beloved mother when she finally gets Amy back. But it’s time to make things right. 

“Hey, Mom,” she says quietly and she smiles when her mother spins around. 

“Oh, Lucy! Oh, thank God. It's been days. Where have you been?” She says it all so quickly, wrapping Lucy in a hug and squeezing tight. Lucy breathes in the moment, grasping just a little tighter than she normally would. 

“I know,” she mutters out, still gripping tight. “I have to tell you something.”

Her mother replies into her shoulder, “You can tell me anything.” 

Lucy finally let’s go only to pull her mother into the kitchen to direct her to sit in one of the kitchen chairs. “Come here. Here, just here. Here you go,” she says, patting the stool. 

“All right.”

“You're gonna think I'm insane, but you deserve the truth.” Lucy exclaims, standing in front of her mother. 

“I'm listening,” says her mother, sounding increasingly worried. 

Lucy takes a deep breath before starting. “Connor Mason invented a time machine and it's real.  
Time travel is real, and when I went on my first mission, I went to the Hindenburg in 1937, and when I left, I had a sister, and when I came back she was gone.” She knows she sounds insane and she wouldn’t believe herself if she hadn’t lived it. 

“Lucy, a sister?”

“Yes. I have a sister. You have another daughter, and her name is Amy, and she is smart, and she is funny, and she has a degree in sociology, and a black belt in karate, which is super weird, and she has no idea what she wants to do with her life, but oh, my God, does she know how to live it, and she is my best friend.”

“Lucy, this person doesn't exist.”

“Yes, this person does exist. If you could remember the way that we were as a family if you woke up one day and I was suddenly gone, you would have to do the same thing.” 

Their conversation is going too fast, too quick for her to really understand her mother’s reactions to what she’s saying, but she has to get it out there, needs to tell her everything. 

“Do what?” her mother asks. 

“I have to get her back,” Lucy starts again and then repeats it more emphatically. “I have to get her back. And the problem is that in the timeline that Amy existed, you were sick - you were very - you were very sick. And I am gonna do everything that I can to save you, but time travel is super unpredictable, and I don't know if I'm gonna be able to, so I just want to tell you that I-I love you.” She’s trying not to cry now, trying to keep it together so that she can keep a clear head. 

Lucy falls into another hug; her mother’s arms open wide and inviting. She wants to bask in this, wants to soak up as much as she can before she loses her mother again. 

“Oh, sweetheart,” her mother says into her hair. “Lucy, you won't lose me. I promise.” There’s a pause before she continues, as if she’s adding her own dramatic effect. “Rittenhouse would never allow it.” 

Lucy doesn’t pull away from her mother’s embrace right away. “What? Wh-wait, what? What did you say?”

“Rittenhouse would never allow you to take the Lifeboat, to make me sick, all to get back some girl that no one but you knows or even cares about.”

Lucy closes her eyes in disbelief, takes a step back as her mother drops her arms. “What are you talking about? How do you know the name Rittenhouse? No, no, no.” This can’t be happening. Lucy cannot believe that this is happening. 

“Just listen,” her mother continues. “Just listen. How do you think I met your father? We both come from good, strong Rittenhouse families. And that almost makes you royalty. Sweetheart, you've made me so proud. You've made everybody so proud. You have such an incredible future.” She stops there and Lucy feels likes she’s going to throw up. This is not her mother and the next sentences the woman speaks solidifies that. “And as we speak, Rittenhouse has an operative on the Mothership, and soon they will control everything. The past and the present and the future. And together we will change history.”

*****

It’s been over an hour since Lucy went off on her errand and Rufus is starting to get a little worried. He’s a worrier in general, but Wyatt had passed on the message and Lucy had said an hour and they’re nearing the two-hour mark. He can see Wyatt checking his watch every few minutes, but he’s not sure he wants to say anything yet. He doesn’t want to see the wrath in the other man’s eyes when he realizes what Lucy’s tardiness might mean. 

So, he continues working with Jiya, retrofitting the Lifeboat to be able to carry four people instead of three. Now that he knows what it does to people if not programmed correctly, he’s determined to be the only person to make sure it’s correct. He doesn’t trust anyone else for this task, especially if Jiya is planning on coming with them in the future. 

Not that he particularly wants her to. Well, he does, but he doesn’t. He’s scared of what could happen if this fix doesn’t work, but he wants to be able to keep an eye on her. Jiya’s seizures have gotten better, but they were still scary enough that Rufus never wants to see them again. She’s had no more visions and is acting like she hadn’t almost died. But she did and Rufus can still feel that overwhelming terror from those long moments deep in his soul. It’s better if she is with him on the Lifeboat where he can be there if something happens. 

They spend another hour or so making sure every line of code perfect and every wire is connected before calling it a win. By that time, it’s been over three hours since Lucy said she had an errand to run and Wyatt has been pacing back and forth behind Rufus and Jiya. He’s kept his angry outbursts to a minimum, but when Connor Mason and Agent Christopher both stroll into the room, he can’t help but let it out. 

“Lucy isn’t back yet and it’s been over two hours since she was supposed to be back,” he says, his brow furrowed, trying to reign in his anger. “I’m going to go look for her.” 

“That’s probably a good idea,” Mason says, his voice clipped, though Rufus has worked with him long enough to hear the undercurrent of anxiousness. Agent Christopher nods in agreement and Rufus knows that something bad is about to happen.

“I’ll go with you,” Rufus says, standing quickly. Next to him, Jiya slips her hand into his and says “Me too.” This is why he loves her so much. 

Mason and Christopher lend them a car and the three of them head to the Preston house. They assume she’s still there because the whole point of her errand was to say goodbye to her mother. The closer they get to the house, however, the worse the feeling in the pit of Rufus’ stomach gets. He turns to look at Jiya in the backseat and sees the same look of worry on her face as well. 

There’s no car in the driveway when they pull up, but all the lights are on in the house and Rufus can see the flickering of a fire through the front window. They pile out of the car and Wyatt double times it to the front door, Rufus hurrying to catch up. He’s so intent on getting to the door that he doesn’t see the shadow creep up to him from the right. But Wyatt does, stopping suddenly to pull his gun on the approaching figure.

“Whoa, whoa,” the person says, holding up both hands in surrender. Rufus recognizes that voice and is immediately also on the defensive. 

“What the hell are you doing there, Flynn?” Wyatt asks, keeping his voice low even as his gun is trained on the fugitive.

“I came looking for Lucy,” Flynn whispers, hands still up and eyes never leaving Wyatt’s. “She’s not here,” he continues.

Rufus is momentarily shocked. This is where she had been planning on coming, she wouldn’t have gone anywhere else without letting him or Wyatt know. “What do you mean she’s not here?!” he exclaims, rushing to the front window to look inside. “Where did you take her?!” 

“I didn’t take her anywhere,” Flynn answers, voice still calm, but now he’s looking toward Rufus and Rufus can see the look of worry in the other man’s eyes. “She told me to meet her here and I found the house abandoned and -” he stops suddenly, looking down at the ground as if he didn’t know how to explain the next part.

Wyatt still has his gun trained on him, but he lowers it slightly as he stands up straighter. “And what?” he demands.

Flynn looks up and catches Wyatt’s eye before he swallows hard and continues. “Blood.” The look that comes over Wyatt’s face is exactly how he had felt when he’d gone around to the back door and found drops of blood leading to the street. It wasn’t a lot, but the idea that any blood had left Lucy’s body involuntarily had made his own blood run cold. And he can see that Wyatt is experiencing those exact emotions right now. 

He waits a moment before dropping his hands and he can see Wyatt do the same with his gun. They turn to the front door, where Rufus is still waiting, almost in sync and stride up to it. It’s unlocked when Flynn tries the knob, so they stroll in, Wyatt ever cautious and Flynn taking in every aspect of the place. 

The fire in the fireplace is still going, so the residents clearly haven’t been gone long, but there’s no sign of Lucy or her mother anywhere in the house. The three men take a few moments to look around and Rufus has to swallow back bile when he and Wyatt come across the blood trail Flynn had mentioned. 

“Probably a head wound,” Wyatt says, jaw clenched and hands in fists. “They bleed like crazy, but it’s probably not serious.” Rufus thinks he’s just saying that to make himself feel better. He wonders if it’s working. 

“Logan,” they both hear from the living room and they look at each other before rushing to the next room.

“Did you find something?” Rufus asks before they’ve even come to a stop.

Flynn has a picture frame in his hand and is looking at it with an intense look of concentration. “Is this Lucy’s mother?” he asks, turning it so the two men can see it. It’s a picture of Lucy, wrapped around a woman who looks very much like her only with lighter hair, their matching smiles bright and vibrant, even through the black and white photo. 

Wyatt gives him a look of confusion and shrugs his shoulders. “I’ve never actually met her mom,” he says.

Rufus hasn’t either, but the resemblance is so strong between the two women in the photo that she can’t be anyone but Lucy’s mom. 

“Yes, that’s her mom,” they hear from the doorway. Jiya is staring intently at the photo. “I remember from when I was helping Lucy figure out why Amy disappeared in this timeline. That’s her.” 

Wyatt still looks confused, looking between Rufus and Flynn. “Why is this important?” he asks, shaking his head. 

Flynn flips the picture back around and looks at it, running a finger over the outline of Lucy. “The woman in this picture. Lucy’s mother? I recognize her.” 

“From where?” Wyatt asks, but he and Rufus already know the answer. 

Flynn takes another second before responding and then looks up. “Rittenhouse.”

*****

Convincing Agent Christopher and Connor Mason to not shoot Garcia Flynn on sight is an actual Work of God, but Wyatt is able to plead his case. Especially after explaining that Lucy is missing and is presumed kidnapped by Rittenhouse and Flynn is actually the one who figured it out. 

Flynn hadn’t want to come to the warehouse, afraid of being killed or arrested, but Rufus had actually convinced him to come. Though there had been a lot of itchy trigger fingers in the room, it hadn’t taken long for the story to be told and a plan to be made to go find Lucy. 

Everything had been helped along by the fact that the alert for the Mothership had sounded not long after Flynn had given his explanation. After reviewing the footage from the storage where the Mothership was being held, they all watched in horror as Emma Whitmore boarded the ship, a struggling Lucy in tow. Jiya had immediately pulled up the coordinates of where the Mothership was headed, plotting a course and uploading it to the Lifeboat for their impending departure. 

After that, it was easy enough to make a plan, and it had actually been Connor Mason who suggested Flynn go with them. Agent Christopher and Wyatt had both protested immediately, but Rufus had sided with Mason. Slowly, they had convinced them that it might not be a bad idea to have Flynn with them. The Lifeboat had been fitted for four people and Flynn was just as invested in getting Lucy back as the rest of them. 

So, it had been decided that Wyatt, Flynn, Rufus, and Jiya would follow the Mothership, get Lucy back, and attempt to put the Mothership down once and for all. 

Wyatt’s teeth were going to crack with how hard he was clenching them as the four of them piled into the Lifeboat. Jiya and Rufus sat at the front, pilot and navigator, punching in code and coordinates as the door hissed shut. Wyatt took his usual seat and started buckling in as Flynn sat in front of him. The other man was much taller than Lucy and so his knees knocked into Wyatt’s who tried not to scowl. 

Flynn swallowed hard, looking around after clicking the belt shut. He caught Wyatt’s eye and could see the undercurrent of rage there. Good, he’ll need it, Flynn thought. He shot the other man a confident grin, a half smirk that did make Wyatt scowl. 

The engines started to whine and he could hear Rufus and Jiya doing a countdown checklist. He felt the telltale pull in his bellybutton telling him they were about to jump and he couldn’t help but turn his smirk into a full-blown grin at Wyatt.

“Here we go again.” 

*****

They land on October 24, 1929, in a heavily wooded area outside of New York City. Wyatt doesn’t know history as well as Lucy does, but he remembers from his high school history classes that they’re a few days from the Stock Market Collapse. 

“Why would they bring Lucy to Black Thursday?” he questions after stumbling out of the Lifeboat and regaining his senses. He looks up to find Flynn standing tall, seemingly unaffected by the trip and staring at him with wonder. “What? I know history!” he exclaims. 

“You never cease to surprise me,” Flynn mutters, his accent coming out thicker the only sign that he was affected by their travel. Wyatt watches him for a moment, not sure how to receive his sentence, but their moment is ruined by Rufus and then Jiya practically falling out of the ship. 

“Where are we?” Rufus asks breathlessly. Jiya answers immediately, though she says it to the ground. “New York. Somewhere outside of the city.” 

Wyatt would lay money on the bet that Whitmore, Lucy, and whoever else Rittenhouse sent along are somewhere on Wall Street, but he’s not sure what exactly they could be doing here. “Any ideas on why they came here and now?” he asks to the group. Really, the question is for Flynn, the only one of them to have been deep into the organization. 

“Thomas Lamont, Albert Wiggin, Charles Mitchell, and Robert Whitney are all meeting today after the market dips. I bet it has to do with one of them. They’re all big money makers, heads of businesses and banks. They’ll try to fix the stock market over the coming weekend but by next Tuesday,” Flynn pauses there and then makes a thumbs up before pointing it to the ground. He makes a whistle and crashing noise as he does it and the rest of them grimace when his hand lowers. 

None of them really know what they want to do or how they want to go about doing it, but after a few more minutes, Flynn can’t take just standing around, so he turns and quickly starts walking toward the direction of Wall Street, hearing the other three fall in behind him. 

It doesn’t take long to get there and when they do, Wyatt and Flynn are walking side by side, heads swiveling, trying to see if they recognize anyone. They don’t have an idea of where they are going, but both seem to be following the same gut feeling. They’re almost to the New York Stock Exchange when Wyatt sees her first. He quietly points her out, picking up his speed to get closer to her. 

Lucy is being led along by Emma Whitmore who has a hand tight on the other woman’s elbow. He can’t see it, but Wyatt is sure there’s a weapon aimed at Lucy. She doesn’t look injured, but she does look worried, slightly scared and a whole lot angry. Neither she nor Whitmore have noticed them yet so Wyatt and Flynn cross the street quickly to follow them. Rufus and Jiya stay on the other side of the street to keep an eye on where they’re headed. 

Flynn can’t even imagine why they would have brought Lucy to 1929 New York, but knowing Rittenhouse, it has something to do with the impending stock market collapse. Whatever the reason, Lucy shouldn’t be dragged into it and he is determined to get her out of this situation. 

Without a word, Wyatt directs him down an alley, where he can loop back around and hopefully catch Whitmore up ahead of them. He tries not to think about how well he and Wyatt work together, how well they communicate without saying a word. He picks up his pace and ends up stepping out right in front of Whitmore and Lucy, both of whom look up in shock. 

“Flynn,” he hears Lucy whisper and he ignores the burst of warmth that spreads across his belly at the look of relief and the brief smile that crosses her face. 

He wants to smile back, but immediately Whitmore’s gun is pointed at him and she’s growling at him to get out of the way. Before Flynn can answer, Wyatt is stepping up behind the women and answering for him. “Not a chance,” he says and he’s pointing his own gun at Whitmore, though it’s hidden better from the passing crowds. 

Flynn thinks, for a moment, that they have the upper hand, and then all hell breaks loose. He’s massively underestimated how desperate Rittenhouse could be, how ruthless Whitmore is, because he’s not prepared for what happens next.

Wyatt is ready to step forward when Lucy gasps in pain, Whitmore’s hand gripping hard on her elbow and then there’s a loud bang and Flynn lurching to the side. Lucy yells Flynn’s name and Wyatt tries to take in everything that’s happening at once. Flynn has stumbled to the edge of the sidewalk, clutching his arm. The people around them are scrambling to get away from the two people with guns. And Whitmore is dragging Lucy along, pushing people out of her way and disappearing between two buildings. 

Rufus and Jiya appear beside him as he rushes to Flynn’s side, trying to see the wound through the blood covering Flynn’s hand. “I’m fine,” he grunts out, pushing Wyatt away. “Go!” 

He doesn’t need to be told again before rushing down and turning the corner where he saw Lucy last. He immediately needs to duck behind some boxes when Whitmore fires off a shot, but he pops back up almost immediately, just in time to see them disappear again. He groans and takes off, keeping to the edge of the buildings as he tries to catch up.

He turns another corner and is immediately bumped into on both sides by people walking one way or another. The street is full of people and he has to stand tall to look over a lot of them. He’s looking for any sign of Whitmore, looking for the familiar form of Lucy, but he sees neither. Wyatt spins in place, searching wildly, but there’s nothing. They’ve disappeared again. 

Wyatt finds his way back to Rufus, Jiya, and Flynn, angry and dejected but sure they’ll be able to find the next stop for Rittenhouse. If patterns hold, they won’t stop whatever they’re doing any time soon. Flynn is still holding his arm, but he’s standing and speaking harshly to the other members of their team. 

“I lost her,” Wyatt says, jogging the last few feet. “Let’s get back to the Lifeboat and figure out where they went.”

“Shouldn’t we figure out why they’re here?” Rufus asks. 

“No, we need to find Lucy,” Flynn says harshly. Wyatt agrees but doesn’t say anything, just hurries after Flynn, Rufus and Jiya following in behind him. 

Logically, Wyatt knows that they need to figure out Rittenhouse’s endgame. Why they’ve kidnapped Lucy, why they’ve stolen the Mothership, and why they’ve come to New York 1929. But the idea of not getting Lucy back, of something happening to her, is eating away at him in a way he hadn’t felt since Jessica. 

So, he follows Flynn back to the Lifeboat, already making a plan of what to say when they get back. It doesn’t take them long to get back to where they stashed the ship and he lets Rufus and Jiya board first. Flynn is running on adrenaline right now, but the blood flowing down his arm is evidence that Rittenhouse is willing to do a lot to get away from them. 

“How’s your arm?” Wyatt asks as they buckle themselves into place. 

“It’s just a graze,” Flynn answers, looking down at his arm. Wyatt wonders momentarily why he’s so worried about that other man, but before he can think too much about it, the ship is shuddering and they’re being pulled back to 2017. 

*****

When they arrive, they quickly explain to Mason and Christopher what happened. According to their version of history, not much changed when the Stock Market crashed, but Flynn knows that doesn’t necessarily mean anything. 

Jiya is quick to figure out where the Mothership is headed next and the four of them spend a very short amount of time changing clothes before plotting their own course to 1962, Washington. 

When they land, Flynn explains that they have landed in the middle of a 13-day confrontation between the US and Russia over ballistic missile deployment. Wyatt’s studied the Cuban Missile Crisis, but he can’t figure out why Rittenhouse would want to bring Lucy here. 

Like New York, it doesn’t take them long to hunt down Whitmore and Lucy, finding them as they exit the Capitol Building in much the same fashion as they did the New York Stock Exchange. They’ve made Lucy change her clothes, but Whitmore still has her by the elbow, and it’s clear Lucy is getting tired of being dragged around. 

She technically sees Flynn and Wyatt first and she tries to keep her cool. But she so badly wants to get away from this woman, this woman who has kidnapped her at her mother’s command but who keeps threatening to kill her mother. This woman who has left bruises on her arm that Lucy is sure won’t fade. This woman who keeps dragging her to times to talk to important yet not well known historical figures to convince them to join Rittenhouse. Lucy hates what she’s doing, but the thought of her mother keeps her going. Even if her mother had been lying to her the entire time. 

She catches Wyatt’s eye first and watches with interest as he lets Flynn know that he sees her. She can’t help the way she lights up at the two of them, unconsciously moving toward them and almost out of Whitmore’s grip. 

That’s what clues the other woman into who has joined them. It’s too crowded near the Capitol to fire off a shot to the two men, so instead she presses the barrel of the gun right up under Lucy’s ribs. “Don’t say a word or you’ll get a lung full of metal,” she says under her breath. 

From across the room she can see the moment the two men notice the gun. And probably the fear on Lucy’s face when she realizes the other woman is not bluffing. It’s crowded enough that the two women can blend in and slip away, so Whitmore tightens her grip and starts walking. They’ve accomplished what they’d come to 1962 for and the Mothership isn’t far from where they are. If she can lose her chasers, they can head to the next stop on their trip before nightfall. Not that time is relevant, of course. 

It’s harder to slip away with someone who doesn’t want to go, but Emma finds a side street and starts to cut over. It’s quieter here which is probably why Lucy feels like taking a chance. She wrenches her elbow out of Whitmore’s hand before taking a wild and lucky swing that catches the other woman on the chin. It’s enough to throw her off and Lucy takes the opportunity to run back the way she came. 

“WYATT!” she yells, sending up a prayer that he’s close enough to hear her. “FLYNN!” she calls for good measure. She’s almost to the end of the street when she hears Whitmore coming up behind her and then there’s a sharp pain in her skull and the world goes fuzzy. 

Whitmore knows she’s going to face some trouble for hitting the daughter of a high-ranking Rittenhouse official, but she couldn’t care less at this point. Lucy isn’t unconscious, but she is malleable, so Whitmore grabs her around the waist and pulls her back the way they were headed. They need to get back to the Mothership and on to their next stop. 

*****

When Flynn, Wyatt, Rufus, and Jiya land back in 2017, the first thing Wyatt does after exiting the ship is punch a wall. The plaster cracks and his knuckles throb and he knows people are staring but he doesn’t care. He needs to feel that pain because right now it’s the only thing he can feel. 

They’d lost Lucy and Whitmore again, the two of them having disappeared before Wyatt and Flynn had turned the corner. They had both heard Lucy call for them and felt the guilt eating away at them for being too late. Again. 

There still is no change in the history they remember and what Mason tells them, but Wyatt and Flynn tell them what they’ve seen so far. Whitmore and Lucy coming out of the New York Stock Exchange days before Black Tuesday and now leaving the Capitol Building in the middle of the Cuban Missile Crisis. Mason puts a few people on research, but they’re still no closer to figuring out Rittenhouse’s plan. 

They take a few moments to rest and Wyatt patches up the wound on Flynn’s arm. They had neglected it to go directly after the Mothership, but it’s time now to patch it up. In turn, Flynn wraps some bandages around Wyatt’s split knuckles. They never say a word the entire time. They have no need to. 

*****

Jiya figures out that Rittenhouse is heading to December 1941. Everyone knows what that means, but they’re shocked to see that they’re not actually going to Pearl Harbor, but instead to Washington DC again. They land late in the evening and when they exit the ship and make their way into the city, it’s to a frantic landscape. Roosevelt had just declared war on Japan and people were still in shock from the events in Hawaii. 

That’s why it made it easy to find Whitmore and Lucy after showing Lucy’s picture to a couple of the locals. Wyatt thanks their lucky stars that they seem to have made it before Whitmore was going to do whatever she’s been sent to do. It had started to feel like to him that they kept just missing them. But now they appear to have gotten here in time. 

They find the two women drinking with a general in a dingy bar tucked between buildings. Whitmore is leaning forward in the booth and giving a sultry smile, putting on airs with the gentleman in front of them. Lucy is on the inside of the booth and both Flynn and Wyatt can see the dark purple bruising around one eye and it fills them with a white-hot rage. She’s not trying to seduce the man with them, it’s clear she’s trying to get him to agree with something. Wyatt isn’t about to let them finish this conversation. 

He’s about to stomp over to the three of them until a hand falls on his shoulder. He turns back with a glare to find Flynn who’s clenching his jaw and shaking his head minutely. “Calmly,” is all he says and Wyatt wants to deck him. How Flynn can agree to be calm in this situation, he’ll never understand. He glances at Rufus over Flynn’s shoulder and scowls when all the other man does is shrug his shoulders. 

“Fine,” he growls out before shaking off Flynn’s hand. It’s warm where it had rested and Wyatt is annoyed that he acknowledges it. Instead of stomping over and pulling his gun, Wyatt saunters slowly, waiting for one or all of them to look up. He sends up another thanks when Lucy is the first to see him. But it doesn’t last for long when Whitmore also looks up. 

There are no guns in sight, but Wyatt is still on the defensive, one hand twitching to grab is his pistol. He can see that Whitmore is wanting to do the same thing but is holding back because of the general in front of her. Wyatt’s not sure of his plan, but he plasters on a big grin and an air of drunkenness before leaning against the table, jostling it just enough that the man at the table has to grab for his drink to keep it from spilling. 

“Hey,” he drawls out and his face may look lax but his eyes are cold as ice. “I want to dance with you,” he says with a slight slur, pointing at Lucy. He holds out his hand and Whitmore slaps it away and it takes everything in him to not sock her in the jaw. 

“She’s not interested,” Whitmore says with a scowl. The general is starting to look confused and like he wants to leave, so Wyatt lays it on a little thicker. 

“Ey, com’on,” he slurs again, leaning towards the gentleman as if he can’t keep his balance. He sees out of the corner of his eye the man start leaning away and looking toward the end of the booth to see if he can squeeze by. “Iss just a dance!” 

Whitmore stands up quickly which is exactly what Wyatt was hoping for, so he takes the opportunity to pull his gun on her. The general next to him doesn’t appear to have his weapon, but he looks on with shock. Before Whitmore can pull her own gun, Wyatt watches as Flynn sneaks up behind her, pressing his own pistol to the base of her skull. He can’t hear what Flynn says to her, but her hands still and then she slowly brings them to the front of her, holding them in front of her body. 

“Lucy,” Wyatt says, jerking his head to direct her out of the booth. “Let’s go!” 

The only way for Lucy to exit the booth is to climb over the table, which she does so carefully until she’s finally (finally) standing in front of Wyatt. He wants to hug her, wants to put his hands on her to know she’s real and alive, but he still has one eye on Whitmore. 

“Time to go,” Wyatt says, loud enough for Flynn to hear. He knows Flynn wants to shoot Whitmore there and then, but he’s proud of the fact that instead, he just hits her with the butt of his gun, catching her as she slumps and deposits her back in the booth. If anyone looks, they’ll just think she’s had too much to drink. 

The general is still sitting there, shocked at the turn of events that’s happened right in front of him and Lucy turns to him with a smile. “It was nice to meet you,” she says and Wyatt can’t help the grin that crawls across his face. It’s just so very Lucy. He watches as she continues quickly. “Whatever we were saying before? Completely ignore it. Go back to work and pretend this never happened.” She flashes the man a quick grin before turning back Wyatt and Flynn. 

The five of them quickly leave the bar and head back to the Lifeboat but they only get a few blocks before Lucy is stopping to hug them all. She hugs Jiya and Rufus, clutching hard at the two of them before turning to Flynn and Wyatt. Wyatt was prepared to wait his turn, but instead he finds himself drawn into a hug with Lucy and Flynn both. He wraps one arm around Lucy and buries his face in her hair, but he’s not quite sure what to do with the other hand. 

Flynn, however, has no qualms about wrapping both arms around both of them and hugging tightly. Wyatt, once again, ignores the feeling below his breastbone and shrugs off the lingering warmth the both of them leave behind when they finally untangle. He clears his throat and steps back, but he can’t help but watch the way Lucy keeps looking back and forth at the both of them. 

“We should head back,” Rufus calls out, ruining the moment. Not that there was a moment to ruin, Wyatt thinks. “But we’re going to have to figure out how to bring back five people. It’s a stretch at four already.” 

Lucy grins and Flynn thinks it’s the most beautiful thing he’s seen in ages. “I know where the Mothership is,” she says. Wyatt falls a little bit more in love with her. “Some of us can go back in that. Flynn knows how to fly it.”

“I do,” he says simply in reply. 

“I’m not letting you go alone,” Wyatt says quickly.

“Okay, then Rufus and Jiya, you take the Lifeboat back. Wyatt, Flynn and I will take the Mothership. We’ll meet back in 2017 and I can explain what’s going on.” 

She makes it sound so easy and if Wyatt didn’t know any better, he would say that she’s completely unaffected by everything that’s happened so far. But he can hear the slight tremor in her voice, that undercurrent of fear. He nods at her suggestion and sees Flynn do the same. It’s settled then. 

*****

When they land in 2017, it’s to great cheers and applause that they’ve finally returned with the Mothership. Connor Mason was starting to think he’d never see his ship again, but here it is, blowing in seconds after the Lifeboat does, a tight fit in the small bay. 

The five time travelers fall out of their ships one by one and it’s not long before Mason and Agent Christopher are shuffling them into a conference room for a debrief. They’d been hopping time so quickly over the past couple of days, but now they have time and Lucy to explain what is going on.

It doesn’t take long for Lucy to explain what happened to her, the blood from her head wound still visible on her hairline. Wyatt has to clench his fists tight to keep from reaching out and he can see Flynn across the table doing the same. She explains that her mother is Rittenhouse and had tasked her to work with Whitmore to travel back and find high ranking officials, bankers, generals, actors, lawmen, etc. and convince them to join the organization. Whitmore and her mother had called them fail safes. In case something happened like the Time Team being able to stop Rittenhouse at the source. This way there would be multiple people ready and willing to join the cause if another fell. 

Flynn has to admit that the idea is a smart one. He only wishes it was something that Lucy had mentioned in her diary, but such is the nature of time travel. All that matters, however, is that Lucy is safe now. He wonders now if he’ll be hauled off to jail, if they’ll let him take the ship out one more time to save his family, if they’ll just drop him in a hole and never let him see the light of day. So, he’s shocked with Connor Mason asks if he wants to help put a stop to Rittenhouse once and for all.

“They don’t have a ship,” he says without answering the question. 

“They’ll figure it out,” Mason says back, cryptically. Flynn wonders if he has other ships scattered about that Rittenhouse will try to steal. Probably. 

“I’ll be able to save my family?” he asks, trying hard to avoid looking at Lucy. 

“Yes,” Mason replies and that’s all Flynn needs to hear.

So, it’s decided that Jiya will monitor if Rittenhouse makes any moves and if so, Rufus, Flynn, Wyatt, and Lucy will be the ones to stop them. It sounds simple enough, but Wyatt knows it will be anything but. 

*****

After the debrief, Rufus and Jiya disappear to sleep for the first time in days, but Lucy knows they’ll be back bright and early to start monitoring for Rittenhouse. She smiles as they walk away, hand in hand, happy for them that they found each other. The heavy sigh she heaves as they disappear catches the attention of both Flynn and Wyatt.

“You should get some rest,” Wyatt says, catching her chin between his index finger and thumb, turning her head to look at the bump on her hairline and the bruising around her eye. 

“Yeah, I should head home,” she replies. She’s been running on adrenaline and catnaps for days and she can feel the adrenaline dropping now. She’s bone weary and exhausted and all she wants is to sleep in her own bed. 

“Ah,” Wyatt says with a grimace. “Your place is kind of a…”

“Crime scene,” Flynn finishes for him. 

“Great,” Lucy whispers, dropping her head back and Wyatt looks away before he’s caught staring at the long line of her neck. An act that he catches Flynn doing anyway. 

“You can stay at mine,” Wyatt says before he’s even realized he’s said it. “I’ve got a shower and a spare bedroom. And take out is close.” 

Lucy gives him one of her half grins and looks down at the ground. “That would be great, thank you,” she says in a low voice. 

“What about you, Flynn? What are your plans?” Wyatt says. 

Flynn grimaces and doesn’t quite catch their eyes. “I don’t have a place to go,” he says. He hasn’t been able to go back to his house since his family died and he’s been living on and off the Mothership for months. But he’s spent more than enough time scrounging up food and clothes that it’s not a big deal to spend one night on the streets.

Wyatt heaves a heavy sigh as if he knows exactly what Flynn is thinking. “Fine, you can stay at mine, too,” he says at the end of it, his eyes falling closed in exasperation. He’s not entirely sure what possessed him to offer to room and board someone he’d been trying to arrest only days prior, but he does it anyway. 

And the grin on Lucy’s face is totally worth it. 

*****

Wyatt’s apartment is small but cozy. They spend the first hour there taking turns showering and changing, Wyatt ordering in Thai food for the three of them. Flynn and Lucy don’t have changes of clothes, so Wyatt pulls out two pairs of sweats and two shirts. When they come out of their respective showers, he can’t help but laugh. Lucy is swimming in his pajamas, rolling the waist of the pants several times and they still drag on the floor. On the other hand, everything is just slightly too short and tight on Flynn, but not by much. The three of them look ridiculous in various sizes of pajamas, sitting around the table and stealing each other’s food.

But Wyatt hasn’t been then happy in a while. He’s not sure how they did it, but Lucy and Flynn have gotten under his skin somehow. Lucy had burrowed there after some time, but Flynn had basically blasted his way like dynamite. He’s not sure what’s going to happen with the three of them, but he’s anxious to find out. 

Lucy finishes her noodles, throwing the carton on the table and leaning back to rub her belly. She lets out a jaw cracking yawn and Flynn quickly follows suit. She watches the two men in front of her, curious what had happened in the past couple of days that allowed them to be able to sit here without Flynn and Wyatt wanting to kill each other. 

Not that she’s mad about it. She’s glad that the two of them are able to get along. As much as she didn’t agree with Flynn’s actions, she can understand why he’d done what he did. And she can’t ignore the way he looks at her, so different and yet the same from how Wyatt looks at her. 

But right now, they’re both looking at her with amusement as she yawns yet again. “Come on, Luce,” Wyatt says, let’s get you to bed. She stands slowly, tired and full and happy that these two men who she’s come to care about, care about her enough to have rescued her. She follows Wyatt to his spare room and smiles as he pulls back the covers. She knows as soon as she lays down that she’ll be out like a light.

She stops in front of Wyatt for a moment before climbing in to bed and presses a kiss to his cheek. “Thank you,” she whispers, and it’s a thank you for many things. For saving her, for Flynn, for the future. She says it again and isn’t surprised when he says nothing back.

She climbs in to bed and lets him tuck her in a bit, smiling softly when she hears “Goodnight, Lucy” before the door closes and she’s asleep. 

Wyatt heads back to the kitchen to clean up only to find the dishes already in the dishwasher and the leftovers in the fridge. Flynn is still sitting at the table, but he stands when he hears Wyatt come back in. “I’ll get you a pillow and a blanket,” Wyatt says, grabbing them out of the hall closet. “You can take the couch.” He hands the pillow and blanket to the other man and directs him to the living room. “It’s actually really comfortable.” 

“Thank you,” Flynn says, voice low as he throws down the pillow. “I appreciate you letting me stay here.” 

Wyatt doesn’t say anything for a moment, just nods and then swallows hard. “Thank you for helping me get her back.” 

Flynn freezes for a moment and then turns back to the other man. He wants to tell Wyatt that he would have done anything for Lucy, that he would have gone to hell and back to make sure she’s safe, but all he says is “You’re welcome.” 

They don’t say anything else, so Wyatt turns on his heel and strides out of the room, hitting light switches on his way to his room. When he climbs in to bed, he thinks about the two people in his apartment. They’re both silent for the moment, but he wonders if he’ll hear Lucy stirring, he wonders if Flynn snores. 

But mostly he wonders about their future. He thinks about what is going to happen in the morning with the three of them. Wonders what is going to happen with Lucy’s mother and Rittenhouse, with their mission. He hates not having an answer to anything yet, but he’s confident in the woman in the next room. And, though he’s almost loathe to admit it, he’s confident in the man sleeping on his couch. 

He’s not sure what’s going to happen in the next twelve hours or twenty-four or in a week or a month or a year. All he knows is that he’s confident in these two people and he feels a burst a warmth below his breastbone again at the thought of the working with the two of them. He’ll do his best to ignore it for now.


End file.
